Vigilante of Castelia City
by Legend716Xerneas
Summary: Adrien, Ren and Veronica go snooping around in the dark corners of Castelia, hoping to uncover a myth. A myth that turns out to have very dangerous connections to it. How do they plan on getting out of this? (Part of my Ascension universe)


Evening was fast approaching in Castelia City, the sun setting on the city's skyline. The streets were quiet, many people returning home before it became too dark… and before the bikers and roughnecks emerged. The cover of darkness was also utilised by a certain individual that was always followed by two pokémon of the same evolution line.

Locals have referred to this individual as The Hood, a masked vigilante that roamed the streets of Castelia and protected the city from criminals, such as thieves and pokémon smugglers. Nobody knew the identity of The Hood, and only a few people have clearly seen this vigilante in action. Rumours throughout the city spoke of The Hood's ability to read any person's mind, and the vigilante's red eyes that were able to see everything in the city.

Of course, not everybody believed that The Hood existed, and some even used this urban legend as a method of scaring naughty children, saying that The Hood would take them to a dark place if they broke any rules.

Whether The Hood was a myth or not, no person could easily prove this…but three teenagers had brought it upon themselves to do so.

"I'm telling you guys, there's no such thing as The Hood. It's all made-up."

"The Hood really does exist, Ren. You've just got to have faith."

"Even if The Hood is real, we shouldn't be going through Narrow Street. Haven't you heard about the thefts on the news?"

"We'll be fine. We have pokémon with us."

"You don't even _have_ a pokémon, Veronica!"

"BOTH OF YOU, JUST SHUT UP!"

Both Veronica and Ren looked up when Adrien, the third member of their group, shouted out. They then continued in silence, following the two suspicious individuals from a distance. These two individuals were dressed in black outfits, and they were pushing a small package as they made their way through Narrow Street. The two people suddenly turned left, heading into a nearby building.

"Aw shit, what now?" Veronica asked the group.

"Let's turn around and head back." Ren replied, before being elbowed by the purple haired girl in the group. "Ouch! What the hell!?"

While Ren and Veronica were busy arguing, Adrien scouted the perimeter of the building, finding an open window on the side of the building. He then ran back to his friends before signalling them to follow him.

"We can get in through here." Adrien said to them, before hopping onto a closed dumpster to reach the open window and get inside. The remaining two teenagers followed him inside, using the dumpster as a platform to reach the window. The sight of rows of computers greeted them, taking the three by surprise.

"What the hell…?" Veronica muttered while investigating the computers, which were all whirring and humming softly. "What is this?"

"I… I don't know." Adrien replied, also taken back by the sight. At the far back of the room was a strange device that was spewing smoke, glowing an ominous red at the same time. "We shouldn't have come here."

"It's about time you guys listened to me." Ren commented, already on his way out. "I don't want anything more to do with this."

Ren suddenly stopped his attempts of leaving the building through the window, and started floating towards the centre of the room. Adrien and Veronica also started floating, unable to control themselves while wondered what was happening to them.

"You should have heeded your friend's words and kept away from this place." A mysterious voice said. The owner of the voice was revealed to be one of the suspicious duo that the teenagers were following, except there were five more of them.

"What are you going to do to us?" Adrien asked the group of seven.

"We could use more test subjects for our device." One of them spoke up. "And human ones would be perfect."

"Test subjects!?" Ren yelled, now a lot more fearful of these people.

"Yes, that will be suitable for troublemakers like these three." Another agreed.

"I'm not gonna be anyone's test subject!" Veronica shouted, running to hide behind Ren and Adrien. "Save me!"

Ren and Adrien each threw out a pokéball, which contained a Magmar and a Krokorok. The two pokémon instantly dished out their attacks while the teenagers made their way to the exit, but they were stopped by two of the black-outfitted men.

"And where do you think you're going?" One of the asked while grabbing the teenager closest to him, which happened to be Veronica.

"Hey! Leave me alone, you piece of shit!" Veronica yelled, flailing uselessly while being dragged away.

Adrien and Ren shared the same fate, since both of their pokémon were quickly defeated by the mysterious group. All three of them were dragged to the basement of the building, where they were roughly thrown into a cage barely large enough to fit all three of them.

"These bars can withstand the force of any pokémon move." One of the two mysterious men said. "Don't bother trying to escape."

"I told you this was a bad idea."

"Shut up, Ren."

/*\

Narrow Street was a quiet place at this time of the night, since nobody dared to walk through the dangerous, crime-filled street. It was because of the emptiness of the street that one could easily notice a figure that was hidden behind the cover of darkness, their glowing red eyes betraying the figure's identity.

The Hood leapt across buildings with ease, quickly reaching the shortest of the buildings at the end of Narrow Street. Having observed the three teenagers that entered the building a few minutes before, The Hood knew of the dangers that awaited them. They used the walls of the adjacent building to reach the highest floor, before silently leaping through it.

There were no guards stationed on that floor, none of them expecting anybody to sneak in from the top floor. This gave The Hood an opportunity to take out two of their pokéballs, which were revealed to contain two pokémon that shared similar features, except that one had bladed arms and the other appeared to be wearing a dress.

With a wordless nod from each of the pokémon, the trio continued onwards. They reached the basement without being detected, and silently made their way to the cage that housed the trapped teenagers.

"Will you stop whining!?" Veronica yelled, looking at Ren. "You're doing nothing to help us get outta here."

Currently, Adrien and Veronica were trying a variety of ideas to break the bars that trapped them, with no success so far. While they were doing this, Ren was sitting in the far corner while tending to Magmar and Krokorok.

"I _am_ helping!" Ren argued. "In case you didn't notice, our pokémon have serious wounds, and I'm doing something about that."

"Um… guys. Something's out there." Adrien spoke up. Though he was not heard by his two friends, who continued arguing.

While Ren and Veronica were busy arguing, Adrien carefully watched the gallade that silently approached them. The gallade then started glowing purple, before forming a blade of purple energy that was sent flying towards the cage. The impact caught the attention of the remaining two teenagers, who watched the gallade with panic.

"Aw shit! That gallade's gonna slice our heads off!" Veronica shouted, moving further back from the Blade Pokémon.

The gallade then rushed towards the cage with its arms crossed, impacting the cage and leaving an X shaped mark on the bars. The bars then fell apart a moment later, allowing the group of three teenagers and two pokémon to escape.

"What now?" Ren asked the group, who all shrugged in reply.

The gallade that freed them gestured for the group to follow it, waiting for them to make their way to the stair before going ahead. Once they reached the first floor, the teenagers were met with a surprising sight. Many of the mysterious men had surrounded a lone figure, whose descriptions matched that of The Hood.

"Is that who I think it is…?" Veronica asked, observing the scene before them.

"It can't be…" Adrien commented, unable to process what he was seeing.

"The Hood is real!?" Ren said in surprise.

All three of the teenagers were watching The Hood in action, taking down the mysterious group alongside a gardevoir. Though they were interrupted by the arrival of three more mysterious men, who proceeded to throw out three pokémon.

The honchkrow, mightyena and malamar all stood threateningly in front of the three teenagers. Before any of them could react however, a green blur leapt in front of them and slashed its way through the pokémon. A moment later, all three of the Dark-types dropped onto the floor, knocked out by The Hood's gallade.

"I've never seen a pokémon move so fast before." Adrien commented, watching the gallade with awe.

"We should really be going now." Ren said to the group, which for the first time agreed with him.

Adrien, Ren and Veronica, after the former two withdrew their pokémon, ran past the chaos within the building and made their way to the entrance, where the sight of Narrow Street awaited them. Unfortunately, they were telekinetically grabbed by a familiar person before they could go any further.

"Where do you think you three are going?" The strange man said, his slightly different clothing marking his as the boss of this group. The malamar standing beside him was using its psychic powers to keep the trio still.

"Let us go!" Adrien yelled at him. The strange man only laughed at their attempts at escaping his malamar's hold on them, unwittingly catching the attention of the Blade Pokémon.

The Overturning Pokémon suddenly collapsed, dropping the three teenagers while surprising the strange man. He turned around to see a gallade standing behind him, ready to attack if the strange man threatened the trio any further.

"You want those kids back so badly, huh?" The strange man muttered, withdrawing his malamar. The then threw out a second pokémon, one that was covered in metal blades. It was then that The Hood appeared before the strange man, their gardevoir standing alongside them. "Hand yourself over, or I'll have Bisharp use Guillotine on these kids."

This statement seemed to get The Hood to stand still, glaring at the strange man while the gardevoir and the gallade shifted to battling stances. With a sudden burst of speed, Gallade leapt forward and slashed the Bisharp with X-Scissor, being careful not to hit the teenagers. Unlike the other pokémon that Gallade had previously dealt with, Bisharp was still standing after the attack.

"So we're playing like that now." The strange man said, now clearly posing a threat to The Hood. "Bisharp, Swords Dance."

The strange man's Bisharp started moving in an odd way while circling Gallade, numerous translucent swords appearing around it. A moment later, Gallade started doing the same, shifting through the same movements as Bisharp while they both powered up.

Gallade then suddenly struck Bisharp with a series of punches and slashes, the Sword Blade Pokémon forced to endure them all. Eventually Bisharp was thrown to the side, having sustained a lot of damage from Gallade's onslaught.

"Was that Close Combat?" Ren asked, never having seen a pokémon use the fighting-type move so quickly before. While the strange man was preoccupied with the battle, Mega Gardevoir had led them to safety, where they could watch the battle while the Embrace Pokémon shielded them from other dangers.

"Yep." Veronica confirmed. "There's no way Bisharp can stand after taking a beating like that."

The group was proven wrong however, when the Sword Blade Pokémon regained its footing, shrugging the attack off like it was nothing. Bisharp snarled at Gallade while circling it, waiting for the psychic/fighting-type's next move.

"Her Excellency anticipated that you would interfere with our plans us, Hood. And as one of Ascension's commanders, it is my responsibility to stop you." The strange man said, catching the attention of everybody present. "After receiving the task of defeating you, my pokémon and I underwent intense training. And as you can see, this is the result of that training."

The Hood made no response whatsoever, merely eyeing the Ascension commander with wariness. Unlike the masked vigilante, the three teenagers were confused as to what was going on. Though they didn't have time to ponder on this as the Ascension commander ordered his pokémon to use Guillotine.

Bisharp launched forward with its arms glowing white, intending slash at Gallade. It narrowly missed the Blade Pokémon at the first swing, instead cutting a nearby pipe in half. Bisharp growled as it searched for its unusually fast opponent, only to get knocked back into the broken pipes by Gallade's X-Scissor.

"Night Slash!" The Ascension commander called out, and before anybody could react, Bisharp slashed at Gallade with claws covered in a dark aura.

Gallade instinctively moved back from the Night Slash attack, but unwittingly left itself open for the second Night Slash that Bisharp sent its way. Gallade was blown back by the force of the attack, impacting the nearby wall and leaving a sizable mark on it. The Blade Pokémon recovered quickly enough to avoid Bisharp's Guillotine, countering with another round of Close Combat.

"Endure those attacks, Bisharp." The Ascension commander said. "Then retaliate with Iron Head."

Bisharp shifted to a defensive stance while Gallade continued with the barrage of punches and slashes, blocking as much as of the attacks as it could and reducing the damage that Close Combat would normally have done. When the opportunity came, Bisharp slammed its glowing head into Gallade, interrupting its Close Combat attack. Gallade moved back in recoil, the numerous uses of Close Combat having lowered its defences.

"End this with Guillotine!" The Ascension commander yelled, tired of dealing with the green nuisance.

Bisharp charged forward with its arms crossed, a white X forming on its arms. The Guillotine attack was met with X-Scissor as Gallade pushed Bisharp's attack back. Both pokémon used all their strength to press forward, the point of contact between the two attacks glowing brighter as they did so.

Eventually, a large explosion shook the building as smoke filled the room. Both Bisharp and Gallade flew out of the smoke, impacting the walls and several machines as well. It was the Blade Pokémon that recovered first, even though it was visibly wounded. The Sword Blade Pokémon on the other hand, having sustained too much damage, fainted from exhaustion as well as from its wounds.

"I underestimated you, Hood." The Ascension commander said while withdrawing Bisharp. He looked around one more time, noting the three teenagers hiding behind the Gardevoir, and The Hood's unwavering expression. "I'll let you go for now… but I promise you, things will go very differently next time."

Before anybody could react, the Ascension commander disappeared in a flash of red, leaving behind no trace of his presence. The teenagers visibly relaxed when they saw that the danger had passed, and any of the remaining Ascension grunts were either trapped or unconscious.

"Phew! Glad that's over." Veronica commented, while the trio came out of hiding.

"You may want to check again." Ren said, pointing to the approaching figure of The Hood.

Now that the teenagers weren't in danger anymore, The Hood could focus on them without watching out for anything related to Team Ascension. After what Commander Aldwyn said during that battle, and after everything they've seen, The Hood couldn't afford to leave the teenagers alone. They were now three more potential hostages for Ascension to use against the masked vigilante. Which begs the question…

"Why did you come here?"

The teenagers did not expect for The Hood to speak, let alone make any sound at all. The question came at such a surprise to them that it took a few seconds to snap out of their stupor.

"It was Adrien's idea." Veronica blurted out before she could stop herself. The Hood remained impassive at this statement, patiently waiting for an answer.

"Thanks for having my back, Veronica." Adrien said sarcastically, glaring at the purple haired teenager. "We checking to see if the rumours were true. The rumours about… well…"

"We wanted to know if The Hood really exists." Veronica finished for Adrien. "And now we have our answer."

"Was it worth risking your lives for?" The Hood asked cryptically. Since the teenagers were unable to formulate an answer, The Hood decided to continue. "Because of this, Team Ascension will continue to hunt each of you, for the rest of your lives."

The teenagers all glanced at each other, truly terrified of what The Hood was implying.

"There are greater forces at work in this world, so do not meddle in affairs you do not understand." The Hood warned. "Heed my warning, children… or don't. The choice is yours to make, after all."

A siren from outside drew the attention of Ren, Adrien and Veronica, alerting them to the fact that Castelia City's police force was outside. Though when they turned around, they found that The Hood had mysteriously disappeared, along with their Gardevoir and Gallade. They were initially confused as to how The Hood disappeared like that, but movement from the building's entrance caught their attention.

"Hey, you three! Hands where I can see them."

"Well… that happened." Ren commented while he and his friends proceeded to follow Officer Jenny's orders.

/*\

As The Hood observed the policemen rounding up the Ascension grunts and driving off with them, they could not help but wonder if those three teenagers would listen to their warnings. It was a dangerous world out there, and it seemed that they were too stubborn to realise this.

Then again, The Hood was once as stubborn as those teenagers, so maybe they were worrying for nothing. After all, anything could happen in the near future.

Even the appearance of three more masked vigilantes.


End file.
